Residents of Community Board 7 started this petition to Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Helen Rosenthal 

Dear Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Member Helen Rosenthal,

We write to urgently demand that Borough President Gale Brewer and/or Council Member Rosenthal rescind the appointment of Sara Lind to Community Board 7 immediately. Members of the Community wrote to you on November 13th, 2020 to bring these matters to your attention but you have not responded. Accordingly, we submit this petition as Ms.Lind’s actions cannot continue to go unaddressed by your offices. 

 Article I, Section B (2) of Community Board 7 By-Laws  states as follows:

“Members of the Board must treat other Board Members, members of the community…and all others with respect and courtesy while acting as their capacity as Board members.”

Sara Lind has violated this provision and must be removed from Commmunity board 7.

At the November 4, 2020 Community Board 7 Board Meeting, Ms. Lind made highly offensive and inappropriate comments  about a community member, Melinda Thaler.

 At this meeting, Melinda Thaler volunteered to offer community input on the District Needs Statement (at 2:40 minutes on the video report of the meeting available at CB7 Full Board Meeting - YouTube channel ). Ms. Thaler bravely recounted her years a victim of domestic abuse and spousal violence, including three years she and her children had the benefit of a protective order against further harm. The help of the 20th Precinct was critical to her and her children’s safety and well- being during this difficult time, Ms. Thaler volunteered to speak publicly of her experience to support overtime funding in the interest of protecting all victims of violence and spousal abuse. Her riveting testimony, made even more poignant by the fact it was done publicly, was duly acknowledged by the Chair, Mr. Diller, who asked for a moment before testimony continued. Repeating publicly such painful and tragic incidents must have been extremely difficult for Ms. Thaler, and her bravery in speaking up should never have be diminished or shamed. Ms. Lind, however, instead of showing the courtesy and respect required in her role and in the By-Laws, rolled her eyes, and shook her head repeatedly during Ms. Thaler’s testimony.  Video Excerpts from the meeting were provided to you and fully support the facts set forth in this petition.  These video excerpts leave no doubt as to the meaning of Ms. Linds’s facial expressions during Ms. Thaler’s testimony.   

A few minutes later, (at 3:00:24 of videom ) Ms. Lind decided to speak. In a condescending and mocking tone, Ms. Lind berated Ms. Thaler for coming forward, and called her emotionally difficult testimony “incredibly absurd.”  Ms. Lind then accused Ms. Thaler of using her own tragic history as an “excuse” to promote a political agenda. She then accused Ms. Thaler of being “really, really disrespectful.”  This accusation was an attempt to publicly shame Ms. Thaler, a community member who has just recounted publicly to strangers her harrowing experience as a victim of a most serious crime.  Ms. Lind had no basis whatsoever to reach the conclusion that Ms. Thaler’s testimony was “incredibly absurd” and “disrespectful” and such conclusions were at a minimum the result of stereotyping and bias.

As community members, we were very disturbed by these comments. The public shaming of a community member for speaking up about her own tragic history of domestic violence should never be tolerated by anyone, least of all an individual appointed by our elected officials. Attempts to publicly humiliate a victim of domestic violence cannot be tolerated.  Ms. Lind is your representative. Tolerating her bullying and abusive behavior is tacit approval of her comments against a victim of domestic violence.

Ms. Lind is not fit to continue to serve on Community Board 7.

WE THE UNDERSIGNED, RESPECTFULLY AND URGENTLY ASK YOU TO IMMEDIATELY EXPEL MS. LIND  AS SHE IS NOT FIT TO SERVE ON  COMMUNITY BOARD 7.